Continuing to walk a dim lightappeared above him. Looking up he saw a star. As he looked two more starsappeared; followed by ten then countless others. This excited Peter as now hecould almost make out his surroundings. The solid ground formed a sidewalk andthe star light above shown grass grew on either side. In the distance darkshadows of trees were seen.
Peter continued to walk as a brighterlight appeared behind him. He stopped, turned and saw a crescent moon shiningbright and moving above. The moon moved at a pace that the details of the Seaof Tranquility and the Sea of Serenity were out of this world. Raising his armhe tried to touch the moon. No luck.
Seeing the moon reminded Peter ofsomething from his childhood; ‘what was it?’ The thought passed and hecontinued walking. He had a sense of guilt for not remembering this childhoodmemory. Walking on, the smile faded and he felt sad, unaccomplished and didn’tknow why.
With his head down Peter watched his shadowshrink, slow at first then fast. He turned and saw a shooting star coming overthe moon. Hypnotized, Peter watched the shooting star with squinted eyes as itflew over the moon then over his head. Eyes following, the star flew in thedirection of the horizon just ahead.That is where he stopped suddenly.
In the distance, along the horizon Peter saw aspectacular sight; more spectacular than the moon even more spectacular thanthe shooting star. Against the blackness around him, a collection of brightcolors lay ahead; yellows, reds, blues, and purples. ‘What on Earth is that?’thinking to himself. Peter started walking again, much faster this time. Thecolors grew brighter as did the structure they were connected to. Reaching theend of the side walk Peter made out the shape of the color structure, a stainedglass bear. The glass bear structure stood on all fours and was easily twentyfeet high. With no other lights around the bear was the most colorful objectseen for miles.
Peter walked up to the bear and read a sign:’Dream Café’ and under that “open all night!” He walking up to the Dream Cafédoor between the bears front paws and pushed it open. A set of bells jingled ashe entered.
Inside, the café was quite small incomparison to its outside. A counter stood at the back with six stools. Fourtables with chairs in the center of the café and two half circle booths in whatwere the bear’s front paws. To Peter’s surprise the café was empty. ‘This placeis gorgeous’ Peter thought. Music played very low from a jukebox by thecounter. Peter looked up at the ceiling and it wasn’t there. It faded from thestained glass walls into blackness. Looking up at where the ceiling should be,he didn’t notice the waitress approach him. Startled, he jumped when she spokeoffering him any seat he wanted. “Thank you” Peter said to the waitress withbright red curly hair. He chose one of the big half circle booths in the bear’spaws. She left a menu and said she would return shortly for his order. Shesmiled chewing on her gum and Peter smiled back saying “Thank you again. Thisplace is incredible”.
Sitting in the center of the booththe red glittery cushion looked brand new. The table itself was a big oval witha red metallic star design on the top. The napkin caddy, salt and peppershakers were at the end of the table across from him. He opened the menu andstarted to read it. As with any menu it was categorized by appetizers, drinks,entrée’s, sides, and desserts. The items on the Dream Café menu were spacerelated; Space Burger with Moon Cheese, Lunar Curly Fries, Neptune’s Shake, andeven Mozzarella Crescent Moons. Peter thought this strange as the Dream Cafédidn’t resemble a space theme restaurant. The waitress came back chewing hergum and asked “what’ll ya have?”He told her the space burger and a Neptuneshake. She made notes on her pad, took the menu smiled and said “Your orderwill be right up!” She walked to the counter and put the order slip on thespinner for the cook. A man’s hairy arm took the order slip and disappearedinto the kitchen. Peter continued to look around amazed at the café.
Looking up where the ceiling would have been,Peter noticed how dark the area above the café was. Just like outer space. Twobells rang and Peter looked back toward the counter, “ORDER UP”. He looked anddidn’t see the waitress or his food. ‘Strange, I smell food’ he thought as hisbooth started shaking violently. Peter yelled for help and tried to scoot outof the booth. The shaking became intense, the napkin caddy and the salt andpepper shakers fall to the floor. As Peter held onto the table the booth seatfell backward causing Peter to stare into the blackness above the café. Lyingon his back looking up, Peter saw the booth table tilt and fall over his lap,then stop. The table top star design was gone and now lined with buttons,switches, and levers; ‘a control panel?’ Peter thought. The shaking continuedbecoming less scary. The control panel came to life with colors, beeps, andmechanical sounds. On the right side of the control panel a clock counted down,20-19-18-17-16… Mesmerized by the events happening Peter realized his cafébooth was turning into a cockpit, to a space shuttle!
The shaking continued and Petersmiled as he shook in his seat. That’s when the childhood memory hit him like atrain. “I’M GOING INTO SPACE!” he yelled. Looking to his right the countdownclock ticked, 3-2-1-0. There was a silence and the shaking stopped. Peterlooked around confused and tried to stand. A giant thunderous BANG sounded andPeter was thrown deeper into the vinyl plush seat of his cockpit. His stomachdropped and gave him that funny tickle of a roller coaster. Peter looked up andthe blackness above the café filled with stars. Peter, booth now enclosed,looked left out of the cockpit window and saw he was flying up and fast!
After a short distance the shakingstopped and his arms and head lifted off his seat. Peter had become weightlessand floated around the cockpit of his space shuttle. Looking out the rightwindow Peter saw the Earth floating away. Looking forward he saw the moonapproaching. Peter made out the Sea of Tranquility and the Sea of Serenity,Peter smiled as an ear splitting alarm cut through the space shuttle. ConfusedPeter looked across the control panel hitting buttons to try and make the noisestop. His right hand hit a big red button on the control panel…
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